One band who stood out more than others instantly was S.C.U.M for those unfamiliar with the name, they were the band fronted by the lad who married Peaches Geldof. Before the daughter of Mr Live Aid came along these were exciting times for a band still taking their GCSEs but revising the names, occupations and bra sizes of Henry the Eighths many wives was not top priority, these teens had a future to live out.
I discovered the band through The Horrors' MySpace page (oh, how I miss that thing!) and I went to see them play The Buffalo Bar in Islington, I was instantly fixated. These weren't just any old teen band, a pass time for those treacherous years, this quintet not only included the striking figure of Cohen, a natural frontman, Sam Kilcoyne the founder of the extremely successful Underage Festival and Huw Webb, the younger brother of The Horrors' bassist Rhys.
It was a haunting experience when S.C.U.M performed live as the darkest band in Shoreditch music was not only terrifying with crashing synths and attacking vocals, strobe lighting only added to the atmosphere. When they played at the Shoreditch Church it was mesmerising, often making you rethink your own existence but as they grew into their late teens the sound mellowed and the erratic noise smoothed out and the long awaited debut LP struggled to break the band in the way they promised in the early days and the release was overshadowed by the tabloid grabbing Geldof.
Earlier this year S.C.U.M announced they were no longer working together. Last night three out of the five members returned to the stage as Astral Pattern, leaving their dark side behind for pastel waves of shoe-gaze vibes encouraged by the summertime. Webb, along with Bradley Baker and Melissa Rigby make up the band whose manifesto is wildly different from their former outfit. Firstly, S.C.U.M drummer Melissa is now on vocals, delivered with a dreamlike motion, there's nothing heavy this time around!
Watch the video for Faraway below.
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